Since 1994, background checks have stopped 2.4 million illegal purchases of many types of guns (Beckett, Just One in Five...). Why do people oppose the idea to block even more with universal background checks? Unfortunately, the current system does not cover private transactions. This means that a person, possibly with mental illness, a criminal record, or an abusive background could buy a gun in a parking lot, gun show or from an online seller without the seller verifying the safety of the buyer. This is how many dangerous people get their hands on guns that can cause severe damage. Universal background checks will solve these problems and more. In this country, people with mental illness have more access to guns than in any other country in the world. According to a Los Angeles Times article written by Grant Duwe and Michael Rocque, 59% percent of the 185 public mass shootings from 1900 to 2017 in the U.S. were done by people with some sort of mental illness. One example is Devin P. Kelley, who escaped from a health facility with concealed guns and shot up a church. He had been sent to the facility …show more content…
There are approximately 5.3 million cases a year in the US of domestic abuse of women-think of how many of those houses have guns in them. (Everytown, Guns and Domestic Violence). Missouri and Kansas are two states that allow people with an abusive background to purchase a gun (Everytown, Background Checks Prevent Violence…). This makes it much easier to buy one if you have an abusive record. Women are 16 times more likely to be shot and killed with a gun than in any other country (Everytown, Guns and Domestic Violence). Around 1 million women that are alive have been either shot at or shot by a husband or partner (Everytown, Guns and Domestic Violence). Guns can make a bad situation even worse if in the wrong